Lonely Echoes
by simplywanderlust
Summary: Sam is a man who loves fiercely, and with all his heart. That's a good thing... right? He starts to question it after he meets a special blonde girl who makes him feel truly happy for the first time since his divorce. But he can't help but feel a little scared about the things he's been feeling. Will Sam finally let go of his love for his exwife and move onto Quinn? Fabrevans AU.
1. Chapter 1: We Choose To Love

_Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. I do not own any of the characters from the show that are mentioned in this story. _

**Chapter 1**

"Just send it back again. Put a note on the envelope saying that the person has the wrong address.", the brunette said calmly, as she began eating her breakfast at the kitchen counter.

"You don't think I've tried that, Santana?", Quinn Fabray asked as she rolled her eyes at her friend.

"You _are_ a blonde after all, Q. And you know what they say about blondes.", the Latina responded with a smirk.

"Whatever. Whenever I return the letter to the sender, he just mails it back in a different envelope. It's been going on for a couple of weeks now. I'm getting a little annoyed and I'm sure he must've gone through at least ten envelopes now.", Quinn laughed and set the envelope on the counter, deciding to worry about it later. The letter had been sent to the apartment two weeks after Quinn had moved in and Santana Lopez didn't let the topic drop just yet.

"What does the letter even say?"

Quinn shrugged, her long blonde curls spilling onto her shoulders, "I don't know. I didn't read it."

Looking at her blonde friend with a puzzled expression, Santana walked over and snatched the white envelope off the smooth counter before ripping it open. "Santana, I don't think-", Quinn was quickly interrupted by the Latina who began reading.

"Let's see now.. Ooh, this guy has pretty good handwriting, for a guy. Here, I'll read it out loud for us..

_My lovely Rachel,_

_It's been 855 days (a little over 2 years) since you've left me and I'd like you to know that thoughts of you have been lingering in my mind for every second of every day. I miss you quite terribly, and my heart starts to ache whenever I spot a photo of you in our house. Our house. It's been, and always will be, ours. We lived there together for three magnificent years, and I will always cherish the memories that we've shared. My beautiful Rachel, I cannot express to you how much I miss waking up to your beautiful face. I miss your warm, chocolate eyes that always found their way to mine whenever you spoke to me. I miss your perfect smile that was able to brighten anyone's day. Just six months ago, I painted all of the interior walls a light blue color, just like you wanted it to be when we were still living together. Forgive me for taking so long; I've always meant to get it done but I've never had the time._

_Do you remember how we met? It was during our sophomore year of high school, when you were the captain of the glee club and I was the quarterback of the football team. The expression everyone wore when they found out that we had started dating was priceless. I remember it was a Tuesday when we first met, in the cafeteria. The second week of school. We walked right into each other, and my slushy accidentally flew right into your face. Your face turned bright red when I realized what had just happened, and I kept apologizing. I knew what the other football players did to the other students, and I was horrified when you said that I was "just like the others". It took me forever to convince you that I was truly sorry. And that's when I knew that I had started falling for you. There was something about you, the way you held yourself and also the way you turned me down when I asked you out on a date, that captured my attention. And before I knew it, I was addicted to you. It wasn't long until you and I became what they call 'high school sweethearts' and marrying you at the age of 18 was the best decision that I ever made. We used to laugh together whenever we reminisced about our high school days, remember Rachel? But now I'm left alone, and my chuckles are lonely as they echo off the freshly painted walls of our house._

_Sometimes, I wonder to myself about how things might have turned out if I didn't leave you alone on the evening that changed our lives forever. I still do not understand why you decided to have an affair with another man. And I will admit that I was beyond hurt and upset when I found out about what had happened. Was I not good enough for you? I wish we hadn't divorced, Rachel. I was ready to look past your mistake and start over again but when you asked me to sign the divorce papers, I felt powerless. I wanted to be angry with you, for endangering our once-perfect relationship, but I couldn't. I could never be mad at you. You had fallen out of love, had lost all interest in our marriage, and it was entirely my fault. I wish I'd have done something to stop it. But unfortunately, that had not been the case. And for that, I do blame myself for what happened to us.__Without you in my life, I am like a ship without its captain and crew... without purpose and destined for disaster. My precious Rachel, if I could reverse time and go back to have you fall in love with me all over again, I would. What happened to us was unfair. How could God have let that happen? To us, a young couple with so much potential? Just the thought clouded my head with anger and sorrow, and I stopped attending church a few weeks after our separation. I still refuse to refer to us as 'divorced', my beloved Rachel. To many, our relationship is over. But to me, it's more alive than ever. I feel that you still hold my hand as I take every step in my life and you protect me from the harm that the world contains. You still wait back at our house for me, every day, until I come home from work. To me, it's just as if you've taken an extended vacation to visit your parents. It's sad that other people can't seem to understand that._

_Sometimes at night, I can hear you playing the grand piano in the living room. I would always have the best dreams whenever you played me to sleep. You were always the happiest when you were singing or doing anything related to music, and I cannot help but feel so empty without your notes floating around the house. Your voice sounded ten times better than any musical instrument in the world, and my dearest Rachel, that is one of the biggest things I miss about you.__The people in town still remember our love. It's famous here, in this special, little place that we call home. People speak about it as if it were a fairytale, with you starring as the flawless young princess and me as the charming prince. But our neighbors and friends believe that the love you and I share has disappeared when they tell others about it. If only they knew how ridiculous they sounded. They call our marriage 'unfortunate' and 'heartbreaking' when they think I'm not listening. But me? I call it 'everlasting'._

_Come back to me, Rachel, and I swear that we can make everything work again. Come back to when we called it love. Everything will be back to normal and we can push the past behind us. I'll make you fall in love with me again, no matter how hard the task turns out to be. We can make this happen, if you'd just give me a chance- give US a chance. We can have our happy ending, together._

_Love always,__  
__Sam E.__  
_  
... _wow_.", Santana cleared her throat as she came to the end of the letter. She was clearly impressed by how literate the writer was. Quinn, on the other hand, was now holding her head in her delicate hands.

"Crap, Santana! We weren't supposed to read that! It sounds personal- really personal- and what if he finds out that we've read it? He'll _kill_ us! This letter was meant to be read only by the Rachel girl!"

"For God's sake, Quinn! Calm your tits, will you?", Santana snapped, annoyed. "How in the world will this Sam guy even find out that we read it? We'll just put it in a new envelope and mail it back." Santana paused for a moment, and glanced at her blonde friend with that special twinkle in her eye. Nervous, Quinn took a step backwards. "_Or_... you can actually get in the car and drive to his house. I mean, c'mon Quinn, you've already got his address. And judging from the letter, he sounds pretty hot. He said that he married the Rachel chick when he was 18, and they lived together for 3 years.. and it's been about 2 years since they split up.. He should be around 23 years old! That's perfect, since you're only 22. Maybe you'll get laid.", Santana shrugged and smiled slyly, an indication that she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

Scrunching up her nose, Quinn laughed and shook her head, "Oh god, Santana. So why did you decide now to suddenly become a math expert? I'm not going, though."

"Please. You blushed the whole time I was reading the letter, even though it wasn't directed to you. I can already feel the chemistry that would form between you hopeless romantics!"

Another blush formed quickly across Quinn's cheeks and she ducked her head in embarrassment. Mumbling a quick 'shut up' to her room-mate, the blonde finally gave in. "Fine. But I'm only going to see him to give him back the letter and to tell him to stop mailing us, since he obviously has the wrong address and neither of us is the Rachel he's desperately searching for. I'm not looking for a hookup, Santana", Quinn said confidently.

Santana smiled widely and leaped up before running to get her friend's suitcase, "Great, because I invited Brittany to stay at our place while her house gets searched for termites. So you need to be gone for like a week. She's coming around two, so you need to leave today- quick!"

* * *

An exhausted Sam Evans opened the door to his home, a rather large beach-front house. He almost always had guests or family over so the extra space was something that was needed. But today, Sam had cancelled all his plans so that he could just relax and have some fun. On his way to the back porch, he passed Linda, his housekeeper, whom he's known for his whole life. Linda came from a Latin background, and she was old enough to be his grandmother. She always spoke in Latin proverbs and had the desire to work. Even if you were to stick her in a room where nothing was messy or wrong, she'd find something to busy herself with. But after the death of his mom and dad in a car accident, Sam became much closer to Linda at the tender age of 19.

"Hey, Linda. If you need me, I'll be out surfing. I won't go out too far and I'll stay safe.", Sam promised, leaning down to kiss the older woman on the cheek before heading outside to grab his things. He had left work early, at around one o'clock in the afternoon, and the waves were perfect for surfing. Sam was unaware that he was going to receive a visit from a certain blonde girl.

* * *

Quinn was getting nearer to the address listed on the envelope after being rushed out of the apartment by Santana and after a long drive in her car. She held the envelope in front of her as she constantly glanced at it to make sure she was going in the right direction. But after about twenty minutes of circling the street and failing to find the house, Quinn gave up. He lived near the beach, she was sure. The temperature was hot and when Quinn glanced in her rearview mirror, she saw herself starting to turn a light shade of red from the heat. It was a typical, hot Californian Summer. Not being able to take it anymore, the blonde parked her car on the side of the street and silently thanked Santana for convincing her to wear a bikini under her clothes. Quinn quickly changed and started heading down to the cool, inviting waves of the ocean.

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry.", Sam said as he helped up the girl whom he had just knocked down with his surfboard. "Sometimes I forget how long my board is and I turn without checking to see who's behind me.", he added, noticing how delicate the girl's hands felt in his when he lifted her off the sand.

"Don't worry about it. I should've watched where I was going."

A short pause occurred before Sam decided to introduce himself. "I'm Sam. I haven't seen you around here... have you just moved here?"

Quinn inhaled sharply. He couldn't be the 'Sam E.' that she was searching for, right? It was a popular name after all, and there was a good possibility that there were more than one 'Sam's in the neighborhood. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment. He was several inches taller than her, and his body was fit. His narrow waist went with his muscular arms and chest perfectly and Quinn was able to see the faint outlines of his six-pack. He didn't look like one of those guys who was crazy about going to the gym, but rather a guy who was athletic and visited the gym about twice a week.

"I'm Quinn. And I'm just here for vacation. I've never been in this part of California before.", she hesitated, wondering if now would be a good time to ask him about the letter. Maybe not, she then decided.

"Cool. Hope you enjoy your stay here.", Sam grinned, and was caught off guard when she made eye-contact with him. _Damn, she's pretty. And her eyes..._

"Thanks. So, you're a surfer huh?", Quinn gestured to the surfboard under Sam's arm.

"What? Oh, yeah. I've been surfing since I was ten years old. Do you surf?"

"No, but I've always wanted to learn how to."

Sam looked down at his board for a moment. Before he could stop himself, he offered, "If you want, I could teach you."

After Quinn asked if it was safe, Sam chuckled before nodding and explaining that he was the lifeguard here. "Really? Alright, then. When's a good time for you?"

"I'm open the whole day. So now would be fine, if you're not too busy.", he was surprised that he was actually willing to teach her. They talked for another couple minutes before coming to an agreement about the time.

"I guess I'll be seeing you here in an hour then. Bye, Sam.", Quinn smiled and waved before turning around, wondering about what had just happened.

Sam gave a little wave back before turning and heading back home himself. He had never noticed how attractive any woman was ever since his divorce. So why did he feel so odd in front of Quinn, someone whom he'd just met? Up ahead, Sam spotted Linda and waved. As he got closer to the older woman, he heard her ask who Quinn was. After Sam explained the situation to her, Linda smiled knowingly.

"She's very pretty."

Sam looked up at Linda. It was a statement, not a question directed towards him. "Yeah, she is.", he finally agreed.

* * *

After meeting up for Quinn's surf lesson, they got straight to it. Sam wasted no time in picking out one of his surfboards for Quinn to practice with and soon, he was teaching her how to stand on it. They practiced on the sand, and after Sam made sure that Quinn's balance was good, he brought her out to the shallow parts of the ocean. Every time he held her by her waist to help her get on top of the board, Sam felt something tighten in his stomach. She was petite, and seemed so fragile; Sam was afraid that she'd break if he held her too tightly. And when Quinn was able to catch her first wave so quickly, Sam was impressed. It had taken him many tries when he first learned, and he found himself teasing Quinn about it, calling it 'beginner's luck'.

A couple hours passed and Sam felt himself relaxing around Quinn. Sure, he still felt a little intimidated by the blonde beauty but he was more comfortable around her now. The two made jokes and Sam was actually having a good time, something that wasn't common ever since his split with Rachel.

At six in the evening, both of them decided that it was getting late. But as they started walking away from each other, Sam called out to the girl who was now a couple feet away from him. As she turned around, Sam felt himself bite his lip. She looked even prettier with the sun setting behind her. It looked as if she were glowing, and her golden colored hair seemed to be flowing perfectly in the warm breeze.

"What?", she asked, starting to feel self-conscious about how he was staring at her.

Running his hand through his wet hair, Sam cleared his throat, "Uh, nothing. Just.. I had a great time."

A soft laugh escaped from Quinn's lips and Sam was barely able to see her nod. "Me too, Sam. Me too."

* * *

"And?", Linda was leaning forward on the table with her elbows.

"And... nothing. We said goodbye and it was over.", Sam said with a shrug.

Linda searched Sam's face for any hints of dishonesty. "Are you going to see each other again?"

Another shrug. "I don't know. She said she was on vacation and for all I know, she might be on her way back home right now."

Linda sighed as she got up from the table and started cleaning up their plates. "Samuel Evans, you haven't even looked at another woman until now. Remember when I brought my friends here and they brought their daughters? You didn't pay them any attention. Didn't even glance up at them. It worried me. And now you're telling me about Quinn, but then you went ahead and shut down your feelings again. You can't keep doing this."

The sound of a fork scraping an empty plate was what the woman got in response. A long silence followed Linda's words until Sam finally spoke up, "You think this is easy for me, Linda? I can't look at any female without comparing them to Rachel! It's impossible for me to love another woman."

Walking over, the old Latina laid her calloused hands on top of Sam's. "Samuel, my dear: _Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur._ It means We choose to love, we do not choose to cease loving."

**Author's Note: So this was my first FanFiction story and I'm not quite sure how well I did! I'd love to get some reviews from you lovely people! Did you like Linda? (I wasn't sure if my readers would enjoy her character, since I sort of made her up last-minute). And please let me know what you guys would like to see in the next chapter(s)!(: Hope you enjoyed my story. Lots of love, Charlotte.**


	2. Chapter 2: The First Date

_Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. I do not own any of the characters from the show that are mentioned in this story. Also, I forgot to mention this last chapter but this story will be following the plot of Nicholas Sparks' novel A Message In A Bottle very faintly. There are going to be major switches and differences but if you look hard enough, you'll see some similarities!_

**Chapter 2**

Quinn had no idea when Sam's shift was as a lifeguard, or which part of the beach he supervised. So instead of trying to look for him the next day, she decided to take a walk along the shore. Quinn walked about half a mile when a volleyball rolled towards her and stopped near her feet. Looking up to find the owner, she was pleasantly surprised when she saw Sam jogging over to her. He looked great and Quinn noticed that he was wearing red swim-trunks that were labeled "LIFEGUARD" on the side, along with a red armband that expanded whenever he flexed his biceps. When he met her gaze, he waved. A yell from the other volleyball players reminded Sam that they still needed to finish their game.

"Hey, Quinn! I didn't know you were still in the area- Oh, uh, do you want to come play volleyball with us? The winning team gets to dine at a nice restaurant while the losing team has to pay", he asked, silently begging his heart to stop beating so fast from simply making eye contact with the hazel-eyed beauty in front of him.

Quinn looked back at the people who had been playing the game with Sam before hesitating and then shaking her head slowly. She already felt herself falling for him, and she reminded herself that he was still in love with his ex-wife. "I don't think I can…"

Frowning, Sam pressed his lips together, "Why not?"

"Because… I heard that there's a, uh, fair going on and I wanted to check it out."

"You want to drive twenty-seven miles just to go to a fair and ride on some ferris wheel?"

Quinn raised a brow and looked up, confused, "What? No."

"Well, that's where the nearest fair is…", Sam replied slowly, as if he was talking to a child who was just learning how to string words together into a sentence.

A bright shade of pink filled Quinn's face as she realized that she was caught. He had seen right through her lie. And now, here she was… standing in front of him like an idiot. For a moment, she thought about just turning on her heels and walking away. But instead, she decided to make it look like she knew what she was doing and she took the volleyball from Sam's grasp.

"Do you have your wallet?", she asked suddenly, as she inspected the worn-out ball in her hands.

"Not right now, why?", Sam furrowed his eyebrows together, completely lost as to why she would ask such a random question.

"Because when I lead the other team to victory, I'm going to order the most expensive things on the menu and you're going to have to pay for it!"

Sam could only shake his head and chuckle softly to himself as he watched the blonde girl run away from him, towards the volleyball net. He was so interested in learning more about the fantastic young woman who had just been in front of him, that he was finally able to ignore the red warning lights that were shining in the back of his mind.

* * *

Unfortunately, however, Quinn's team eventually ended up losing the game by a few points. Despite that, the group of young adults got along fairly well and all decided to go to Breadstix, the nearest restaurant with a menu filled with a variety of fancy food. The group was large and it wasn't until they arrived there, when they all realized that they wouldn't have enough seats for all of them.

"Oh, that's fine. I can just head back to my hotel room and grab a bite to eat from McDonalds or something.", Quinn volunteered, already starting to back up. Immediately, a few people protested and pleaded for Quinn to stay with them just a bit longer. Tina, one of the friends that she had made from the volleyball game, took the blonde's hand and smiled. Quinn smiled back at the Asian girl.

"Please stay! We never get a lot of new people around here, and you're so much fun to be around. I'd hate to send you home for something small like this. You and Sam can eat in the booth right behind us!", Tina offered, shooting a look towards Sam that Quinn couldn't quite understand. A couple of heads nod in agreement as they supported Tina's idea and then, before either of them knew it, they were being nudged into a small booth in the right-hand corner of the dimly-lit building.

They ordered their food and then there was a slight, awkward silence between the two and the corners of Sam's mouth seemed to have their own minds as they rose higher and higher, just from watching Quinn look down at her lap across the table. He just couldn't help it. The lights casted faint shadows across her face and revealed her lovely cheekbones along with the soft curls in her hair. The gentle rising and falling of her chest reminded Sam to breathe, and he was exhaling just as Quinn's hazel orbs flickered up to meet his green ones.

"What?"

Sam blinked twice, before he was fully aware that Quinn had asked him a question. He cleared his throat, "What do you mean?"

"Why were you staring at me like that?", her mesmerizing eyes held his gaze and wouldn't let him look away.

"I wasn't staring at you."

"Yes, you were. Do I have something on my face?"

"No, not at all. You look great, actually. I was just going to tell you that."

Quinn blushed, and bit her bottom lip as she grinned. Sam's eyes flickered down to her plump lips and he wondered for a moment about what it would be like to kiss her. Immediately, he felt a sharp pain in his chest as the image of Rachel, his ex-wife, appeared in his head. Rachel Berry, the girl he had loved for over three years. And he had spent the last two years grieving over the fact that they were no longer together, and that she didn't love him anymore. Now, Rachel was famous. She landed a few roles on Broadway along with a couple roles in TV shows, so now she was all over the tabloids and advertisements. Sam couldn't go a few days without seeing her face pop up somewhere with a guy that the paparazzi caught her with, and Sam was haunted with the thought of what their relationship might have been like if they were still together.

He blinked, and all of a sudden he was sitting across the booth from Rachel. She was just sitting there, smiling up at him, with a light pink casual dress on and with her long hair straightened. Sam's eyebrows furrowed together, in confusion.

"Wh-What are you doing here, Rach?"

A large grin formed on the girl's mouth, and Sam was instantly reminded of their marriage and how much he loved her. "I'm here to eat dinner with you, silly!", she replied, reaching over the table and taking his hand softly in hers.

"But…", Sam trailed off as he looked around the restaurant. His friends were still in the booth in front of them, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The whole restaurant seemed normal, just a little busy as the waiters rushed around to get everyone's orders. "But, where's Quinn?"

Instantly, he knew that he had said the wrong thing as Sam watched the girl's face darken. He felt her let go of his hand.

"Who's Quinn?", her voice snapped, cold and unfriendly. Rachel's eyes narrowed as she studied Sam's face.

"The girl that I'm supposed to be having dinner with.."

"You're cheating on me?"

"What? No! You're the one who wanted us to get a divorce years ago!"

"So? You were the one who used to send me hundreds of letters saying that you still loved me! I thought it'd be nice to come back and spend some more time with you! I can't believe I came all this way to find out that you were seeing someone else.", Rachel pressed her hands into tight balls.

Sam didn't know how to respond, so he just sat there looking more puzzled than ever.

"It's either me, or her, Sammy. You pick.", the brunette said, putting emphasis on the word 'her' so that it made Quinn seem like some sort of monster.

"Sam!", she repeated, when he still didn't answer her.

"Sam!"

"Sam!"

Slowly, the voice seemed to melt away. And then Rachel's voice was replaced with the gentle voice of Quinn's.

"Sam?"

The blonde boy flinched, and blinked a few times before realizing that it was Quinn who was now across from him.

"Sam? Are you okay?", she asked him, leaning forward with a worried expression on her face.

"What? Yeah, yeah. I think so. Why?"

"You just zoned out for a few seconds.", Quinn answered, with a look on her face that gave Sam the impression that she didn't believe him when he said he was fine.

"Oh. Sorry", was all Sam could say in response. He was faced with a bucket load of guilt, for thinking of Rachel while he was with Quinn. And Sam couldn't help but feel like he was cheating on Rachel. What he didn't know was that Quinn's mind was overflowing with thoughts as well.

Their food finally arrived, and the blonde girl thought a moment about when she was going to tell Sam about her real reason for coming to this part of California: the letters. But just as she opened her mouth to say something, she was interrupted and the two spent the rest of the evening talking about themselves and what they liked to do. And, surprisingly, Sam felt a little sad when he learned that Quinn was leaving in five days to go back to school. Both of them were so caught up in their conversation that neither realized that their friends had silently left an hour ago.

As the waiter dropped by their table with the check, Quinn smiled, "Sam's paying". And with that, she shot him a mischievous smirk and started walking towards the restaurant front doors.

After Sam quickly paid for their meal, he caught up with the girl outside and swung his arm onto her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. They shared a few laughs and Quinn jokingly scolded him for messing up her hair.

"If my memory serves me correctly, Miss Fabray, you were the one who was supposed to pay tonight.", Sam chuckled.

"Ah, but Mister Evans,", Quinn's gaze met his and she smiled sweetly, "A gentleman always pays on the first date."

* * *

**Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! And I'm extremely sorry for the delay in this chapter. I lost interest in this story for a little while but I was suddenly hit with a lot of inspiration a week ago! 3**

**To mandorac: Thanks for checking this story out! You're one of my favorite writers on this site, and I got really excited when I saw that you read this story! And, to answer your question, you'll see in the future chapters. (: Sam's just not comfortable talking about it with Quinn yet!**

**To fabrevansgleek: Thank you! Unfortunately, Linda didn't make an appearance in this chapter but she'll be very involved in the future! (:**

**To the anonymous reviewers: Thank you guys so much!**


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